Magic at Comic-Con

Sarah covered WB’s superhero onslaught at Comic-Con earlier today. For me, like her, the highlight of all that was Wonder Woman. Otherwise the Warner Bros release I’m most looking forward to is Fantastic Beasts. Another trailer was presented during the panel along with wands but not before they all cast the spell, with Eddie Redmayne leading the way:

Lumos Maxima!

You know that feeling Caroline Franke wrote about in that Vox article I posted this morning? The “visceral, joyful swooping sensation that tells me I’m not just loving something, but FEELING it, right in my guts”? I feel it. I feel it the way I used to when magic was coming. When we were still being invited to Hogwarts. When Harry, Ron, and Hermione were discovering the world. That’s what it is. It’s the thrill of DISCOVERY. It was supposed to be over but now, now we get to do it again. We get to discover new people, new secrets, new stories.

And, so far, from what they’ve shown us of Fantastic Beasts, it’s all the wonder and the delight and the joy, all of it all over again. Eddie Redmayne keeps getting better and better in these previews. Even Ezra Miller seems to be magically transformed by the power of this universe, allowing himself to express unfiltered uncool enthusiasm about this opportunity. And Colin Farrell…

Colin Farrell has it down. Colin Farrell’s wand-wielding? To me that’s all I need to see to know he belongs here. His wand technique is similar to Gary Oldman’s – it’s a sideways slide when he casts. It’s not for everyone. You have to have a very specific swagger to be able to pull that off. And he does. He really does.